Movie theatres to function at 100% capacity from February 5 in Karnataka

Since the pandemic struck, the business of films has been one of the worst affected, with movie halls shut for the longest time. When they did open, it was with limited capacity, which very few filmmakers were willing to risk and utilize. Everyone waited it out patiently for the government to issue relaxations and allow 100% capacity. In the last two years, the industry has been oscillating between complete closure, 50% occupancy and full capacity.

In fact, movie halls were operating at 100% occupancy since October last year, only to be restricted to half in early January. To make matters worse, the government first announced night curfew from 10 pm to 5 pm every day, which reduced the number of shows, and then came the nail on the coffin, weekend curfew. Theatres were shut over weekends, when business usually picks up for movies. Thankfully, weekend curfew lasted only a couple of weeks and was withdrawn by the end of January, giving filmmakers hope that 100% occupancy would also be on the horizon.

Today, the government finally gave in to the repeated requests and pressure from the film industry to allow 100% occupancy, given that most other businesses, including restaurants and pubs were being allowed to function at full capacity. Starting tomorrow, February 5, theatres in Karnataka will be at full occupancy, which should explain the flurry of release date announcements today.

As of earlier today, there were six release announcements for the rest of February and a couple for early March too. Here’s where we stand now: Love Mocktail 2 (February 11), Four Walls & Two Nighties (February 11), Gilky (February 18), Ek Love Ya (February 24), Old Monk (February 25), Bytwo Love (February 25), Yellow Board (March 4), Dear Satya (March 10) and James (March 17). Barring the March 17 weekend, announcements are expected for other weeks that do not clash with KGF: Chapter 2 or the Telugu-Tamil biggies Valimai, RRR, Radhe Shyam, Bheemla Nayak, etc.